Ashes to Ashes
by Roran Catham
Summary: What if Cinderella was nothing but a pathological lier? This is the true story of how her real blood sister Ash got the prince while cruel Cinderella tried to get all the credit.


Everyone knows the story of the Cinderella, classic evil step mother and two ugly step sisters, and of course the poor little girl who they make their personal maid/slave, but nobody knows the real story, nobody knows about Cinderella's pathological lying problem or little sister. In short nobody at all knows about me. I was the one who did all the work while Cindy played the poor me act, because while I was gone she had to actually wash her own clothes. I was the one who slept on the floor because Cindy needed all her inside information about how to actually win over the Prince. I was the one who worked hard enough that I should have gotten the happy ending and lived forever in the heart of little girls, but no, do you even know my name? Do you? Do any of you out there know my name? Well I'll enlighten you, my name is Ash, get it Cinders and Ash, I have no idea what my parents were thinking when I was born.

I came into the world when Cinderella was almost four, just at the age where one becomes centered around herself, because that was what Cindy was, self centered. From my earliest memories I remember serving her, because that's all I knew, I thought every little sister did that. I wanted desperately to prove to Cindy that I was worth her time and patience, she was my idol in every way possible, and I wanted nothing more to be just like her.

Mother died when I was only six or seven, I don't really remember, she was away at the time, traveling with father and we hadn't heard from them in a while, and then all of a sudden father was back home one day and mother wasn't. She had gotten sick far from home. Father said that she wanted to come right home to see us once more, but they couldn't, because the deal Father was trying to get for some precious cloth was too high for them to afford and he had to knock it down more. She died there, far from us alone in a port city unable to say goodbye.

And with that sudden change in our tiny family Cindy was expected to be the woman of the house and me, the younger daughter in a poor family with no hope of a dowry became the maid.

As I grew I came to realize that this wasn't normal, most people didn't polish their siblings glass shoes before they go to school, most siblings don't read their big sisters to sleep, or stay with them through the night to scare away scary talking mice. Most people actually never listened to their siblings, in fact most people never thought twice when they just ignored their older family members. This was revolutionary to me and as soon as the idea planted in my mind I wanted to rebel.

The first time I said, "No Cindy," it was like the whole world stopped moving. I swear even the clocks stopped ticking in the dining hall. Cindy just stood there for a second as if she couldn't actually believe her ears, the ever so slowly she scrunched up her face and opened her mouth to lose a horrible piercing shriek that I can still recall exactly today. The glass that she had ordered me to wash shattered in my hands cutting them to shreds making me and Cindy realize in the same second that she had a powerful super power, a convincing power that could control us all. From then on if she scrunched up her face and took in a breath to get ready to scream we all ran to duck and cover, something was going to smash and most likely hurt whoever was near.

A few months after that our father, who was in danger of losing our house after a more than questionable deal went wrong, was forced to remarry a horrible, really wealthy, old lady who had a daughter significantly older than Cindy. Yup, you read right, one daughter, yeah just one not two, guess who was labeled as ugly step-sister number two, in her story. Yeah, that would be me, her full blood sister, great older sister, right?

Once our new step mother moved in our father wasted no time and right away ran off with our new step-sister, leaving us on our own with our new, very annoyed ex-step-mother. She might have been kind if she hadn't been betrayed so terribly by our father, or she might have always been a miserable lady with a long nose, but we will never know for sure. Once my father came back to get the rest of his stuff and umm how to say this kindly LEFT US THERE! Our step mother called for Cindy and me to go to her rooms to see what we could actually do with our limited options and sudden lack of parental figures.

She lined us up in the light of her great window and took one long look at us both one after the other, staring into our eyes, taking in our appearances, Cindy's light blonde hair and my dull brown, her baby blue eyes and my raging ocean colored ones, as is she were weighing our worth. With a brisk nod she sent me away, but little did she know that I actually stayed at her door pressing my ear to the key hole, listening to her speak to my dear sister.

"Now you are in fact a step up from that fool of a daughter I once had," she said as I heard her pacing around Cindy, "you have the look of a queen. All I have to do here is to help you catch the young prince's eye and everything will be perfect. He will fall in love with you as soon as you walk into the room. You have everything you need to do this, you have the right look, the right way of holding yourself and most of all, that certain air about you and the firm way you control your sister," the old hag said to Cindy like she was already the new queen.

"Why thank you miss," she said in her sweetest angelic voice.

The Old Hag was impressed, you could tell by the way she said her next sentence, "Perfect my darling, perfect, but we just can't leave anything up to chance here if we are to succeed, we have to find out exactly what this Prince likes, what he wants in a wife. By any chance, is you sister clever at all?"

Cindy snorted, "She is quite dull ma'am."

"Just what we need then," the Old Hag said happily, her footsteps coming towards the door. I pushed away fast, only just getting to the opposite wall in time as she beckoned me back into her domain.

"With the abrupt departure of your father, girls we have been left with no income and no way to give either of you a dowry. It has also come to my attention that my daughter took the majority of my funds with her when she departed as well so we are left in a bit of a poor state. I am too frail and elderly to go and get work, but you are young and you still have the ability to work. No, you don't just have the ability, you have the drive, and you have the need. I have managed to secure a job for a maid in the royal castle. One of you can take that and I am still trying to find a second job. I think that the job at the castle would be just great for you Ash, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada, talk, talk, talk," boy did this woman love to hear her own voice and she went off into a speech that would have put Polonius to shame so I just zoned out and stopped paying attention until the end, "You're going to start tomorrow."

I nodded, there was nothing that I could do and went to my room to pack my few belongings. I would be staying at the castle during the week and I would go home on the weekends. On the bright side it would be my first prolonged break from my sister, it would almost be worth the work I was going to have to get used to doing, key word there, almost.

I found out pretty quick that work was harsh, and it took a lot of time and patience, but I finally felt at home there. As a maid in the castle everyone was expected to work and do their job, even the overseers, they worked as well as overseeing. The cook worked hard to cook and the stable hands worked hard being stable hands. They were each expected to do something every day, and all the chores were divvied up so that none were too hard for each person. The order was quite welcome after the awful order that Cindy kept.

My first week passed quietly and quickly so I went home at the end of the week just as expected. The Old Hag and Cindy were quite horrified that I hadn't learned a single thing of what the Prince fancied, but I've only worked in the common rooms, they had to know I was trustworthy before I was going to able to see the actual royal rooms.

I was only away for a week, but the house had fallen into a horrible state. Cindy was even forced to clean a little. She swept the floor because the Old Hag had an allergic reaction to the dust and she even had to do some of her own laundry. Poor Cindy right, she had to clean, it was horrible, ahem.

The weekend couldn't end fast enough.

Monday dawned early but not bright, it was raining pretty heavily when I set off towards the castle on the empty muddy road. That's where the story really begins, when a startling white stallion galloped around the corner knocking me off my feet and sending me flying onto the ground into a great muddy puddle ruining the only set of clothes I had for the week.

The horse skidded to a halt before cantering back to me the figure on its back. He was cloaked in a dark hooded cape meant for keeping the rain off and their face hidden.

"My apologies Miss!" The figure cried dismounting from his great stallion to offer me a hand in getting up.

I brushed past the hand and got to my feet myself, "You could have watched a little more where you were going!" I said haughtily, "It's muddy and hard to see, why on earth were you riding so fast and why would anyone be in such a hurry to go anywhere in this kind of weather?"

The figure laughed and walked away, but the laugh was off, it was forced and harsh, "At least you aren't totally covered in mud," I said halfheartedly trying to make a joke suddenly feeling pretty horrible about the way I had treated the stranger, I mean he did come back to see if I was all right and all.

He stopped and suddenly turned to me again, "Have you ever had to do something you are totally against?"

I had to let out my own forced laugh here, "Only almost every day of my life."

He turned to me the rain masking his face and cried into the air, "I have three days to find myself a wife or my father will find one for me! How can anyone fall in love in just three days?"

"Well, you could have a ball and invite all the eligible girls in the kingdom I'm sure you'll find a girl there." I said sarcastically sure he was just joking about the whole three day thing.

Yet he took me seriously, "That is a wonderful idea, why didn't I ever think of that!" he exclaimed to the sky as the rain fell even harder, "What is your name and where are you traveling to Miss?"

I was startled to realize that this time when he spoke he looked directly at me not realizing I was so low, I guess, but he asked a question and that required a reply so I gave one, "My name is Ash, and right now I am heading to work at the castle where I am a maid," I said turning away afraid of his reaction when he heard that he was mistaken when he assumed that I was his equal.

"Which is where I should probably be going back to right about now," he said solemnly, "would you like a ride?"

"No thank you," I said politely declining, it would be scandalous beyond compare if I would to have mounted that horse with him then and there.

He laughed, a real laugh this time, "Probably not a good idea Miss Ash now is it?"

"No Sir."

"At least take my cloak to keep you dry." He said unfastening the latch.

I shook my head, "I'm already soaked through. It would make no difference."

"Will you not take a single kindness from a sorry man who wronged you?"

I smiled, a rare thing for me, "No Sir," I said before curtsying low to him then darting away into the shelter of the rain.

Later that day, well after I arrived and dried off, it was announced throughout the kingdom that in three days a ball will be held so the Prince of the kingdom would be able to find his future queen. Who knew the strange man that I had bumped into earlier was the Prince and that he would actually take my sarcasm seriously.

The ball would be held in just three days so the whole castle was in an uproar. It was unheard of for a royal ball to be set and prepared for in such a short time, but the prince called for it so it had to be done. That's just the way life works here.

In the rush to get things done I given a very serendipitous job, cleaning the Prince's personal library all on my own, my first official solo expedition. It was an easy task one that I had performed many a time. Sweep the floors, polish the candles, clean out the fireplace, and rearrange the book shelves making it look like the Prince read a lot more than someone as busy as he must be, would.

I was alone in that room cleaning out the ashes from a long dead fire when it suddenly became occupied by two loud boisterous persons. I would have left right away when they entered the room, but the fireplace wasn't clean and there were still books strewn out on the tables and couches so I wasn't going to leave unless ordered to, but to ask me not to listen in to their conversation, well that's another story all together. Why do you think the maids know everything? It's like we're furniture the Lords and Ladies don't even notice that we're there.

The people that entered the room were two boys, either best friends or brothers, by the way that they acted, and the one sounded all too familiar so I was forced to sneak a glance at them. When I peeked up at the two boys I realized that they must just be friends because they lacked that certain resemblance that most brothers share. The first boy, the one whose voice was so familiar had dark hair with a very commanding set face whilst the other boy had blonde hair and a round carefree face. They both looked to be about twenty or so.

"What should I be looking for in these girls, what makes a girl good enough to stand by my side?" The dark haired Prince desperately asked his friend.

His friend grinned and noticed me looking at them, and I turned quickly and returned to my work, "Well first of all they have to be beautiful beyond compare and stand out among a crowd, because beauty marks goodness in a girl. She must have skin as pale as milk and long pale flowing hair. She will be looked upon at all times so she must be clean and neat, but most importantly she must be quiet and meek fore who would want a wife who takes charge of the relationship and overrule you, that above all else reflects poorly on you."

Isn't it nice to know exactly what men these days want from their wives? I snorted to myself at the sexist description.

The friend rounded on me, "I would ask you then what you think a proper wife should be, but you are a girl yourself and that alone makes you bias." He sneered.

The prince turned to look at me and started in surprise, "Miss Ash?"

I stood to curtsy deeply to him before saying, "At your service, Sir."

He smiled before turning to his friend, "This girl here is in fact the reason I called for the ball, she gave me excellent advice just this very morning and I would like to hear what she has to say on this subject also."

I have to admit I was quite flattered with that little speech and proud that the Prince of the kingdom would go to me for advice, but I didn't really even know where my opinion on this fell, so instead I fell into a shameful silence.

His friend sneered again, "She wouldn't dare voice her true opinion here, My Lord."

The thought that it wasn't allowed popped into my head, a thought that really did nothing to truly dissuade my voice, in fact those word instilled my with a desire to voice my opinion, to yell to the world what I had to say.

"In fact Sir, I would like to prove your friend here wrong," his friends mouth fell open astonishment clear in his face, "Women are not just fancy things to be shepherded around like a prized hound. Think of them like this, they will be the mother of your children, do you want weak meek children, who are at least pretty, but can do nothing more? Not to mention you will be spending the rest of your life with this one girl, don't you want someone who is intelligent and who can carry a conversation about important matters? She should be your equal, someone who can help you rule when times are tough, but still have a certain kindness and empathy to those around her. I think that kind of woman would make a good queen for your kingdom and, if I may dare say so, you too."

The silence that followed my much too bold statement seemed to stretch for hours. Only to be finally interrupted by the Prince's friend, "And I presume that you will claim to be exactly that type of woman."

"Of course not good Sir, I am certainly not that kind of girl," I said returning to my position as maid by returning to my task at the empty fireplace.

You would think that the conversation would continue without me then, or they would leave a lowly maid to her work, but no, the Prince couldn't just leave it at that, "And how would I recognize this remarkable girl when I meet her?"

I stopped my work again, knowing that if I took too much longer the head housemaid would come after me with vengeance, but something inside me made me answer that question too, "Well this kind of girl might not be the prettiest girl in the room, she might even be the one hiding in the corner praying that nobody notices her. You can't tell just by looks, you have to talk to her, get to know her."

He interrupted me now, "but I have only one night, how can I get to know so many girls?"

"Well just get to the point, ask them how much they read, listen to them prattle about how much they read, then say something like you never have time to read, or that books are pointless and if they just change their mind and agree with you then you know they are just trying to impress you and be something they're not, and other stuff like that."

He fixed a level stare right at me, "and you think that that will work, I will find a perfect queen just by talking?"

"You'll never know unless you try."

He seemed to think about that for a second his face thoroughly thoughtful, then looked at my kneeling in front of the fire for the first time, "would you like some help with that?"

I let out a short little laugh and shook my head and he added, "I remember, you will not accept any kind of kindness. What if I don't ask and just start helping you? I don't think you can really just tell me not to."

I just knelt down again trying to hide me smirk and with a huff the Prince's friend plopped down onto the couch clearly saying that he wasn't going to get down and actually clean, and he would just leave us to do that.

It would have been quite a relief to have some help, but the prince obviously had no clue what to do with the fire so I just pointed him to the books that were strewn out along the tables and told him to put those away. That task was quite simple for him being that he was in fact he one who had taken those books down in the first place.

"You could come here to read whenever you want you know. Rarely does anyone come to this particular room, nobody would bother you here." He said after a few awkward moments of silence.

The offer was a great kindness, but even he should know that there was no time for any maid to actually sit down and read, so I had to refuse him again.

"Why will you not accept any kindness!" he said throwing his hands up into the air.

"I'm sorry Sir."

"Can we go yet?" He friend interjected from the couch, "I promised my brother that we would go hunting after lunch."

"Well I must bit you adieu, fair maiden." He said with a little bow and a great smile as he and his friend left me alone in that room that suddenly felt far too large and empty for my liking.

That evening I received a message from my dear sister begging me to come to a special family dinner because my aged ill grandfather had managed to travel all this way to see his special little granddaughters.

A nice lie, but still a lie nonetheless, my grandfathers had been dead for many a year, but the summons wasn't something that my boss could just push off, and so she let me go, but only after I swore to return later that night, instead of the next morning.

So I went off to supper with "grandfather" just as I was supposed to just as night fell and the roads became shadowy.

When I arrived there was no dinner waiting, not that I truly thought there would be, I just kind of hoped that there might be one. Instead all that was waiting for me was my anxious sister and The Old Hag, with thousands of questions about the ball and especially about the Prince. They wanted to know if I had met him, if I knew what he wanted in a wife, if I could tell them his foot size and whether or not his earlobes were attached!

I just told them that I hadn't met him, but I had heard him talking to his friend about what he wanted in a wife. They nearly died when they heard that, then they made me tell them the exact conversation, word for word. So I told her what I told the prince about what the perfect wife should be, and The Old Hag just scoffed and laughed at me before turning to Cindy, "And you can certainly be all that and more, now can't you honey."

Cindy nodded thinking hard about her new role and I for the first time in my life dared speak up, "What about me?"

Haggy turned to me with a confused face, "What do you mean darling?"

"Can't I go to the ball and try my hand at winning the Prince, it says that ever eligible maiden in the kingdom is welcome to attend." I said not really knowing what drove to speak it out loud.

"Well, Ash, I'm really sorry, but you have no dress, and the little money that we do have, we spent on a dress for Cinderella, because, face it she has a greater chance at this than you do."

My heart fell and I turned away, "well I think it would be about time for me to go back to the castle, I don't want to lose my job and all," I said quietly as I ran desperately out of the house and back into the night.

The road was dark and clammy with such a lack of light that it was almost impossible to see the road before me. Not to mention the awful hunger that ate away at my stomach from the lack of a dinner that my "family" was supposed to supply for me.

It was a log walk back to the castle and an even longer wait for the kitchen to clear enough to sneak a small piece of bread, only just enough to stave off the hunger so that I could curl up and sleep.

The next day was as hectic as hectic could be. We cleaned the entire castle from top to bottom, replaced everything that had begun to dull and worked until we dropped that night. I didn't see or really talk to anyone in particular at all that day.

Then the day we've all been waiting for since this story began, the day where the clouds would part and justice would rain down upon us, where the happy ending comes out of nowhere and the underdog comes out on top, or so you think.

We woke early, all the maids did and we set to work cleaning and decorating for the ball. There theme was white or something, all I knew was that the flowers we put everywhere were white roses and the clothe we draped over the railings was white linens. It was stunning, a sick sort of ironic beauty because I wasn't ever going to enjoy it as an actual guest.

All the maids were let off duty that night to go to the ball so they all went home as soon as the decorating was done, all of them, except for me. I didn't want to help Cindy get ready so why even bother going home. At least if I stayed here I could stay alone and just hide. Speaking of hiding the offer the Prince had once given popped into my head. That little library would be perfect to just sit in and read while the ball goes on without me.

I hurried to that little room and was overjoyed to find that the fire was already lit, all of them were for the ball, but you could never know. I trailed my fingers along the spines of the books there. There weren't that many books here, nothing compared to the real library of the castle, but these books were the exciting ones, the ones that had no classifications in them, no definitions, the kind of illustrated books that were truly the most valuable.

I settled down with a random story or a girl with golden hair locked up in a tower when the door opened and a lone figure stepped into the room. It was none other than the Prince himself and when he saw me his face, an unreadable mask, just stared.

"I'm sorry Sir. I'll just go now." I said getting up quickly and snapping the book shut.

He moved to block my exit though, "What are you doing here?" It wasn't a harsh question, more like amazement that I was still in the castle, "The balls about to begin."

I laughed a humorless laugh, "Why would I go?"

He just looked at me all serious like, "Well why wouldn't you go?"

I really couldn't believe that he was actually asking that, "I'm a maid," I said like it would explain everything.

"So what? You're still a person, a girl, and every girl in the kingdom was invited no matter what their ranking in society." He persisted.

I heard the clopping of hooves and glance out the window, the first set of guests had arrived, "Shouldn't you be out there greeting your guests, Sir?"

"Why must you insist on being so difficult Miss. Ash?" he said throwing his hands up into the air before leaving the room without a second glance.

Well that was certainly different.

I left the library then, and wandered up to the towers of the castle, but even there I wasn't alone. When I entered the room there was a wizened old woman who was beautiful even in her old age. I went to turn away and hurry back down the tower when she called out to me, and invited me to stay with her, to keep her company.

"My name is Ash." I said sitting down next to her.

"I know." She said lightly he voice scratchy and soft.

"What's your name?"

She laughed, "When you get to be my state, names aren't important anymore, but you once knew me."

I stared into her eyes, but nothing came to mind, she was as strange to me as anyone I had just met off the street, "I feel like I should know you," I said hesitantly.

"No bother Miss Ash, the matter is neither here nor there, we have a much more important issue to deal with at the moment. You have a ball to go to and wearing that would not be a good way to impress the prince now would it?" The little old lady said rising to her feet and gesturing to my still muddy servants dress.

"Who are you?"

She ignored the question and started humming and singing under her breath possibly the most annoying song in the whole world, and I was just about to ask her to stop when she did, all on her own a surprised look on her face, "It didn't work, they said it would work. HEY GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME!" she cried.

A bright light flared and a green dress shot out from an old wardrobe knocking the poor old, cranky lady off her feet. I rushed to her aid but was forced to rush away as more things began to fire out forcibly, jewels and stockings, everything I would need to go to the ball, everything the Old Hag hadn't had the money for.

I helped the old woman up just as a tiny little pair of golden shoes landed on top of the pile. I took one look and nearly burst into tears, those shoes were way too tiny to fit on my feet and without shoes I certainly couldn't go to the ball. I had gotten my hopes up for nothing again.

"Ahem," the old lady coughed.

"WE'RE OUT OF GOLD UP HERE!" a voice screamed through the light.

"THEN USE SOMETHING ELSE!"

"Fine, be bossy," the voice muttered.

I heard some shuffling from the light, a few more curses, and the sound of something sharpening before two gigantic glass slippers fell from the light to fly gently in the pile of clothes that would be my new dress. Did I mention that I have huge feet before this? Well I do the biggest in the whole kingdom. I would brag about it if it didn't make shoes so hard to find.

"Thank you!" I called up to the light as it began to fade.

"SEE SOMEONE IS GREATFUL FOR ALL THE HARD WORK I DO!" the voice screamed down before the light vanished all together.

"What was that all about?" I turned to ask the lady, but she had already thrown the great pile of clothes over my head so the words were lost.

A little while later I was fully dressed, ready to go to the ball with a smile so broad that you could land a ship on it, and my eyes tearing up from the great kindness that the sweet old lady and the voice from the sky had shown me.

"Now give us a twirl," she said when she was sure she was done, "You're beautiful, you've worked hard for this moment, don't let anyone make you feel less than you really are and remember you only have until midnight, you have to have that dress back by then or the person that we "borrowed" it from might notice that it's gone."

"Wait what?" I asked afraid that she had actually stolen the dress.

"The shoes on the other hand you can keep, now I want you to have the time of your life tonight my beautiful, kind daughter." She said before kissing my forehead and vanishing into thin air.

I didn't even recognize my own mother, the thought rebounded in my mind as I reached to touch the spot on my head that a ghost had just kissed. She never left me, she still loved me just as she had when I was little. Tears of joy and pain gathered in my eyes, I never did get to say goodbye to her and now there she was telling me to have fun and by golly I was going to have the time of my life!

The ball had already been going on for a while when I arrived looking like a queen. The whole room stopped and stared at me as I walked down the grand staircase into the heart of the room, and as soon as one of my glass slippers touched the floor letting off the tiniest of chinks it seemed to have broken the spell and everyone in the room went back to what they were doing before, they only kept looking back at me every so often.

I glanced around hoping to find the Prince, but he was not in the crowd milling around the beverages or on the dance floor. Or so I thought, seconds later I saw him dancing with none other than Cinderella herself and he was smiling and truly happy. There was no way I was going to break that up, it was his choice, so what if he chose wrong and lived a miserable life.

Milling around the guacamole seemed like a good idea so that's what I decided to do. I have to say though the cook really outdid herself with that particular dish of guacamole, it was amazing.

It was there that I felt the gentle tap on my shoulder and I slowly turned around to come face to face with none other than the Prince himself, "Good evening Miss, would you care to dance?"

"Why yes." A voice called from behind me and the Prince rolled his eyes.

"Next time then." He said to me with a wink before walking off with Cinderella again for another dance.

It went on like that for the rest of the night. Every time the Prince went to any other girls Cinderella intercepted him. He acted like the perfect gentleman the whole time letting her walk all over him, while the whole time his eyes watched me. I felt their gaze as I drank some punch and I met them as I danced with a duke.

When I took a break later in the night, it was there that he finally found a way to talk to me.

"Nice night tonight," he said moving to stand next to me.

It was in fact a nice night, a cloudless moonlight night, perfect for cooling off and just looking at the stars, too bad that couldn't have been the case two nights ago.

"Yes, quite so," I agreed.

"But I've seen better," he added and I had to hide my smirk, he was actually following my advice.

"Perhaps you might be right, but the moon is bright and the stars are out and it is much nicer out here than in there." I said conversationally.

He was silent for a second as if trying to figure out whether or not I was really agreeing with him or stating my own opinion. He wasn't that bright, but he was kind and sensitive and that was all I needed in my life.

"Do I know you?" he asked suddenly into the silence.

"Do I know you?" I asked back before hearing the toll of the bell calling for midnight. I cursed under my breath and saw the Prince's mouth fall open at such foulness from a lady, like he would ever like me in the first place, so why even try to be someone else?

"Goodnight Sir," I said curtsying and darting back into the ball room and vanishing into the crowd, but not before I felt my left foot stuck fast in something sticky, "What the-"

"My father warned me that pretty girls in glass slippers tend to run away so I put tar on the floor behind you." He said sheepishly.

"Are you kidding me!" I called desperately trying to free my foot from the tar, "I need to make my dramatic exit here!"

"Well what am I supposed to do here?" he said throwing his hands up into the air.

"Well help me out of this!" I cried desperately, holding my hand out to him.

He looked thoroughly confused here, but he took my hand and pulled me free with a loud squelch just as the clock chimed its tenth chime, but my left shoe stayed stuck in the tar. I squeezed my eyes shut, glared an evil death glare at the prince for making me lose my shoe and darted back into the room.

I was only a few minutes late when I got back to the room, but my mother was already there waiting anxiously as she helped me out of the dress without a word and vanished without a single look at me. She left me quite empty inside and I wandered alone through the castle halls holding the one glass slipper in my hand, the only memory of that night.

But it wasn't the last I heard of that, the very next day every maiden was ordered to return to their homes and stay there until notified otherwise, because the Prince wanted to find the maiden who left her shoe at the ball, he said he would only marry the girl that the gigantic shoe fit. Yeah, like I was going to actually go back home and be humiliated like that because of my gigantic feet and if the Prince was out looking for the girl who fit the shoe I knew it would be wise to hide in the castle.

I knew I would be safe hiding in the kitchens. I felt sort of tired so I sat down on the floor and rested my head against the cool stone of the panty and fell into a deep sleep.

I was awoken an untold time later by a quiet voice, "Late night last night Miss Ash."

I came to my senses immediately and jerked up away from him, "Whatever are you talking about?" I asked sleepily.

"I know it was you, but you should have seen your sister try to get her foot into that shoe, Cinderella, her foot is even bigger than yours," he said with a laugh, "she cut off her toe and her heel to fit it in there and I almost believed her until I looked down and saw the blood pouring out the of the shoe. I was so happy to learn that it wasn't her. You have no idea quite how happy I was, but she sure shrieked loud enough when she knew all hope was lost, only I wasn't going to give in to a horrid sound like that and I certainly didn't want any of my future children to make that awful sound," he paused, "But she told me the most amazing piteous story about how her evil step sisters made her be their maid and how her evil step mother would never let her do anything fun and all, and she had to sneak out to go to the ball risking everything for the slim chance that I would pick her to be my new wife."

"Cinderella is a crazy pathological liar, you should know that." I interrupted him.

He looked at me strangely, "You do know you just admitted that you're her sister, and her story, if applied to you fits almost perfectly."

"I've never been that good of a liar. Cindy got everything that skill had to offer there." I said with a shrug.

"I just have two questions," he said offering me his hand to help me up, "First is, how on earth did you get that dress that you wore last night when you never accept any form of kindness from anyone? Or is that just from me?"

I took his hand and said, "I really have no idea, I don't even think I can tell you, it's that weird and no it's not just from you. Was that your second question?"

"No, the second question is this; will you marry me?"

For this story I mixed the true story of Cinderella and the Disney one together with my own twist on this. Some ideas like the tar that the prince put down on the floor it actually from the real story so that the prince could stop Cinderella from escaping for a third night in a row and when the prince says that Cinderella cut off her toe and heel, that is how the two original step sisters tried to fit their feet into the glass slipper. In the original story Cinderella does not get her dress and shoes from a fairy godmother, instead she gets them by being pious and good and praying at her mother's grave so I made the ghost of her mother give her the dress. Also in the real fairy tale there was no mention of a midnight curfew, but I didn't want to throw the whole Disney version out the window because when people think of Cinderella they think of glass slippers and midnight curfews, but in the real story the shoes are actually gold so that's why I made the first shoes gold, but then changed them to glass.

Roran Catham


End file.
